Lucian gave another feral instructions, throwing a short spear his way, "You will be the one who delivers the final blow. Wait for the right moment, and then strike."
He looked at the rest, who were still rubbing their ears, "You will be the ones who engage with me directly. Fight defensively, but create enough of a threat that I will be forced to focus on you."
He pointed at the stacked up shields stacked up in the corner, ordering the last three ferals to pick them up. "Deflect my attacks, use your environment, and never let me get close to the spearman."
He threw his bag of pepper powder to one of the shield-bearers, lime powder to the second, and a net to the third. "You will have these tools to help you."
Then he took a wooden sword himself, "Now, come at me." He raised his arm in the air, "Begin!"
The three ferals roared and charged at him, their shield held high in front of them, while the big feral began to scream whatever came to his mind. They were mainly provocative insults that involved his mother, his family, and his ancestors.
"Your mother was a whore, and your father was a donkey! I bet you look like one too, you ugly piece of shit! Come and fight me, you coward! I will rip off your head and use it as a ball to play with!"
There were some pretty funny ones that made Lucian almost burst out laughing, but he kept a straight face, focusing on his opponents.
The laughter did cause him to lose his momentum for a moment, which allowed the ferals to get closer to him, their shields blocking his view.
Powder flew into his eyes, but he turned his face away in time, letting his sight recover quickly. Which they used to throw the net at him.
He pushed the net away with his sword, but the distraction gave the spearman the chance to run towards him, his spear ready to strike, almost piercing him.
Lucian blocked the spear with his sword, the guy retreated again, and the shield bearers formed a wall in front of him.
Their footing was also more stable, not allowing him to push them away.
He couldn't go around them, and he couldn't go over them. They had him cornered. But that was only the beginning.
"Your mother is so ugly, she had to pay people to look at her!" The big feral continued to shout. "I bet you don't even have a face! You are just a hairy ball with legs! HAHAHAHA!"
Laughter resounded from around the ship, as the other ferals watched the scene with amusement. They even joined in the shouting, adding their own insults and jeers.
It was a cacophony of noise and mockery, all directed at Lucian.
He slashed the air horizontally, forcing the shield bearers to raise their shields higher, using the moment to jump and kick the one in the middle.
The kick made the feral stumble backwards, and Lucian pushed through the gap, swinging his sword at the nearest feral.
He was met with a shield and a groan from the feral, who was pushed back by the force of the blow.
Lucian quickly switched his grip and stabbed the sword at the feral's thigh, making him fall to his knees.
The other two shield bearers moved to ram their shields into Lucian's sides, but he dodged one, and parried the other, then hit the feral's head with the pommel of his sword.
They were all one marked ferals, three ranks below him, so their bodies couldn't handle a blow from a silver rank, but they could still slow him down.
The spearman was closing in from behind, his spear aimed at Lucian's back. Lucian felt a gust of wind behind him and turned around, slashing at the spear.
The last shield bearer was back up, tackling Lucian to the ground, his weight pressing him down.
He groaned as Lucian's foot hit his shin, but he didn't let go. He was using his body as a sacrifice to keep Lucian in place.
The spearman was standing over Lucian, his spear raised high.
"Got you!" he shouted, thrusting his spear down.
Lucian rolled to the side, the tip of the spear hitting the ground, but it was exactly where they wanted him to be.
The bait provocater raised his sword and slashed at Lucian, stopping an inch away from his face.
The ferals cheered and howled, celebrating their victory. "Yeaaah!" They lifted their arms and jumped around, their joy overflowing.
They've fought with Lucian enough times to learn a few of his sneaky tricks, his movement patterns, and his fighting style. They used that knowledge to their advantage and managed to win this time.
Of course, considering how Lucian was a beginner swordfighter, and couldn't take it as a real life and death situation and go all out, it was a good practice.
He and his army were not going to fight fair. But that was the point. Life wasn't fair.
Lucian lay on the ground, breathing heavily as he removed his mask, his body aching from the exertion. He had lost, but he had also won.
The more dirty tricks they learned, the better their chances of survival.
They needed various sizes of shields, be equipped with light swords, short spears and carry small daggers for close quarters. Not to mention a bag full of tools to distract their opponents, which they would make themselves.
They could not win by fair means, so they had to fight like the low-lives that the world saw them as. Dirty, underhanded, and ruthless, with no honor or mercy. The world gave them no respect, so why should they respect it?
"Again!" Lucian got up after catching his breath.
The new team of ferals roared in agreement, praising his stamina.
They tried to use the same tactic again, but Lucian was already adapting to it, making their job harder.
He targeted their feet first, and threw his sword at the bait provocator's face, catching others off guard.
The ferals had to improvise and come up with new ideas, new combinations, and new strategies.
Lucian felt like he was reaching his limits, but he didn't want to stop either.
"Let's try this next," he explained a new formation that would require them to destroy the ship's railings to their advantage, and the ferals complied without questions.
"Roaaaar!" Another fight commenced.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
I wonder if anyone finds the lack of magic boring. 😅
The ferals will get more flashy moves as they raise their ranks, while Lucian will also learn new tricks during this training period as he waits for his son to grow up a bit.
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